Chapter Ten
Anton landed with a thud in the grate of Sirius's hall, it was absolutely silent in the dim house, Anton adjusted his eyes so he could see a little better and slowly walked down the corridor, muffled whispers seemed to be coming from the dining room.
'Hello?' he said loudly and the whispers immediately stopped.
'We're in here Anton,' came Mrs Weasley's voice from the dining room 'we thought we'd have dinner in here tonight.'
Anton headed down the corridor and placed his hand on the handle he turned it and pushed it open to complete darkness, he was about to conjure a ball of flame but suddenly the lights flicked on.
'Surprise!' screamed the crowd of people.
Anton felt his mouth drop open, he had known about the surprise yet he was still surprised. A huge banner hung from the ceiling with the words.
Happy belated Birthday Anton!
Underneath someone had scrawled.
Congratulation on not being accused of Murder! Anton could immediately guess who had written that.
The large old table was covered in dishes of food and presents, streamers were draped across the table and hung from the ceiling. In the centre of the table a huge cake was positioned, it was in the shape of a ball of fire with red icing, on the top Happy belated Birthday Anton was written in black icing.
There were at least twenty people in the room including the teenagers, the Weasley's, Kinglsey, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Lupin and Sirius as well as quite a few more and one woman who looked in her early thirties that Anton couldn't remember seeing before.
'I think he's surprised,' Lupin laughed at Anton's stunned face.
'I..erm…uh,' Anton stuttered out 'I don't know what to say…Wow.'
'So you like it then,' Mrs Weasley smiled happily.
'Of course,' Anton said gratefully 'but you didn't have to go to all this trouble just for me.'
'Nonsense,' Mr Weasley said cheerfully 'it was the least we could do.'
Anton smiled feeling honoured that they had gone to all the trouble 'Thank you so much,' he said sincerely 'I can't remember the last time I had a birthday cake let alone a party.'
'Presents!' Sirius said excitedly 'you have to open the presents.'
'You got me presents,' Anton smiled even more 'now I'm even more stumped for words.'
'Just open them,' Tonks said loudly 'there should be more but no one else knows it was your birthday.'
'More,' Anton said faintly surveying the pile which was bigger than anything he'd ever had before 'I…' he trailed off.
'For crying out loud open them,' George cried 'the suspense is killing me.'
Grinning Anton took the first present from the Weasley's, pulling it open it revealed a knitted jumper in a deep red with a flame on it, he smiled broadly at the simplicity and the memories it conjured.
'Thank you,' he said sincerely giving Mrs Weasley a hug and shaking Arthur's hand.
It took at least half an hour to open each present, he'd gotten a brilliant metal contraption from Mad-Eye that whirred every time a lie was told.
'I thought it would come in useful,' he'd said knowingly.
The rest of the things were items such as chocolate and small wizarding novelty items, the last present was a flat rectangle that was at least a metre long and about seventy five centimetres across, it was wrapped in white paper and the message at the top said it was from Tonks, Sirius and Lupin. It also said drawn by Mylee Bones.
'We thought we'd do something that would be special to you,' Lupin said as Anton began opening the paper.
The three adults and the woman Anton didn't recognise all watched nervously as he pulled the paper off.
The breath caught in his throat as he realised what it was and his eyes widened in shock.
It was a portrait but it wasn't moving, on a plain black background the the artist had drawn them as Elementals.
Ginny/Gia was in the middle smiling out of the darkness her hands were clutching her green and black sword, on her right side Ron/Rhoan stood with one arm wrapped around his sister's shoulders and the other holding his own silvery grey sword. Anton was drawn on the left side with his arm placed on Rhoan's shoulder, his black and red sword was hanging loosely from his hand. It had been drawn to look as if the darkness was shying away from the three friends.
'Oh my God,' Anton whispered his fingers trembling as he touched the picture.
'Do you like it?' Sirius asked sounding slightly anxious.
'It's exactly as I remember them,' Anton said softly 'how can I ever repay you for this' he said looking at the thick gold frame.
'You deserve it,' Sirius smiled relieved Anton liked it.
'Thank you,' Anton said to everyone with such genuineness he looked much younger 'thank you so much.'
-=-=-=-=--=
As Mrs Weasley served the food half an hour later Anton found himself talking to the woman who had introduced herself as Mylee Bones, she was slim and attractive with long curling brown hair, she was quite shy but seemed pleasant enough.
'Thanks for drawing it,' Anton said appreciatively 'how did you get involved with it?'
'I knew Sirius, Lupin and Tonks at school,' she admitted blinking her hazel eyes 'we were all in different years but they remembered me when they were looking for an artist, I also dated Sirius for a couple of years.'
'That was lucky,' Anton smiled.
'It was,' she agreed 'I lost contact with Sirius after I moved from school, but I always wanted to look him up again, but then of course he was arrested and I didn't know what to think.'
Anton noticed she was watching his Godfather carefully as he laughed with Lupin and Tonks.
'He's single,' Anton smiled understanding the look in her eyes.
'Oh no,' she flustered 'he's got a lot on it would just confuse things for him.'
'Most would say that you couldn't know that unless you asked him,' Anton said egging her on slightly.
'I couldn't,' she insisted but with slightly less conviction.
'If you insist,' Anton smiled 'but one drink couldn't hurt could it?'
'One drink,' she muttered under her breath.
Anton smiled to himself, when she had wondered off still deep in thought to talk to Mrs Weasley Sirius ambled over with a piece of cake.
'Good birthday?' he asked.
'One of the best,' Anton answered smiling 'Mylee's nice.'
'Yeh she is,' Sirius agreed 'she was two years below me and Lupin.'
'I think she's got the hot's for you,' Anton continued not missing the sudden interest in Sirius's face.
'Really,' he laughed 'I would never have realised, are you sure?'
'Well there's no harm in asking,' Anton said eating some of his own cake.
'I was a convicted murderer,' Sirius said gruffly 'she would not want to go out with me.'
'Cleared of all charges,' Anton said 'what's wrong with an innocent man wanting a drink.'
'A drink,' Sirius murmured looking over at Mylee who chose that exact moment to glance over herself 'excuse me' he said to Anton heading over to the brunette.
Anton smiled to himself again as he saw Sirius talking to Mylee and her own eager replies.
'Easy,' he said to himself as he headed over to the table for more food.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A bad mood was easily detectable in the house the next morning from irritable replies to the crashing of pots as Mrs Weasley cleaned the breakfast plates with a furious vigour. Sirius hadn't bothered to come out of his room and Lupin had chosen to leave the house to escape the atmosphere that had arrived with Harry's birthday, Mrs Weasley had next to forced his potions down his throat and the only way Anton could see of escaping was to copy Lupin and leave. Anton took his sword with him even though he wouldn't need it, the pendant Dumbledore had given him was hanging over his t-shirt and in the warm weather he had chosen jeans to wear as he was not sensitive to higher temperatures.
Anton closed the door with a definite snap as he felt the freedom of the outside world, he chose as a spur of the moment decision to travel to Diagon Alley even though he didn't need anything.
As he entered the familiar cobble stoned Alley he walked morosely towards Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlour, after obtaining a quintuplet chocolate ice cream he sat down at a table and started reading the paper he had just purchased.
'Happy Birthday Anton,' a voice said suddenly next to his ear.
Anton thrust himself from the chair and did a roll across the floor turning to face the owner of the voice as he did so.
'What do you want,' he spat angrily at his opponent.
'What do you think I want,' the blonde and blue hair girl threw back 'I want to see you suffer and burn.'
'Aww Felly you cut me up,' Anton returned rising from his position on the floor 'I didn't realise you wanted to kill me that badly.'
'Well I can't kill you here,' Ofelia/Hermione said sitting back in the chair Anton had just vacated and smoothing her blue robes out 'to much unnecessary attention, which neither of us wants…yet.'
'So what do you propose?' Anton asked his hand on his wand in his pocket as he pulled an other chair out from under the table 'shootout at dawn?'
'Don't be crass,' Ofelia snapped irritably 'I was suggesting we go to a neutral ground and fight there.'
'Like I can trust you,' Anton said repulsively 'you betrayed us, and you think I'd go somewhere unknown with you.'
'If we don't go somewhere soon,' Ofelia replied calmly her personality far removed from the young Hermione living at Sirius's house 'I will kill that little girl in the pushchair over there.'
Anton turned his head slightly so he could see the little girl who was only about one slurping happily on her own ice cream.
'What happened to you?' he said disgusted.
'War,' Ofelia sneered 'I was more willing to compromise to survive, now are we going or am I going to have to kill that baby?'
'Where to?' Anton asked gritting his teeth seeing no way out.
'Now where did your element of fun and adventure,' she mocked 'some would say that it died with that worthless lump you called a friend.'
Anton snarled in anger and drew his wand out.
Ofelia shook her head 'if you do that I will have no qualms in killing her.'
'As if you would anyway,' Anton said growing even more angry 'you wasted no time did you, away from one Dark Lord you take a month in getting to know the other.'
'Wasting time is wasting power,' Ofelia said smoothly 'if you had only recognised that I wouldn't have to kill you.'
'Many have tried,' Anton said tauntingly 'how many death attempts was it at last count?'
'The number is irrelevant,' she said getting more enraged 'now get up we're going for a walk.'
Anton stood up his wand at his side, the comfortable weight of his blade on his back reminding him he was not alone.
'Now move,' she hissed.
Anton reluctantly moved away from the table 'where to?'
'We're going to walk a hundred yards north,' she muttered 'then twenty yards west into a disused alley.'
'Then what?' Anton asked.
'That would spoil the surprise,' she replied 'get moving.'
Anton followed her instructions moving a hundred yards north then twenty yards west as directed, he stepped into the alley his wand raised high and a ball of flame alight in his other hand. He faced his nemesis with an angry satisfaction.
'Now what is going is going to happen?' he said conversationally.
'You choose a place,' Ofelia consented 'wherever we go the outcome will be the same.'
'Aren't you the confident one,' Anton snorted 'fine, I choose…the field in which the Quidditch world cup was held last year.'
'As you wish,' Ofelia said 'start on arrival.'
'Fine,' Anton said disaperating with a crack seconds before she did the same.
=-=-=-=-=-=
The sun was high in the sky when they reached the now empty field, Anton pulled his trainers off and let his feet sink into the warm earth feeling its power, he pulled his sword and launched into an immediate attack. He swung the sword down at his former best friend, she threw her own silver blue blade up to meet the strike. The blades met with a glitter of fire sparks and water, pulling his sword back Anton struck again and his strike was instantly met by Ofelia.
'I saved you for last so you could see how you failed,' she said cruelly 'and now I will kill you.'
'We're evenly matched you idiot,' Anton retorted 'the only way one of us will win is if the other gives up'.
'Which you will,' Ofelia snarled throwing a jet of water at him.
'Think again,' Anton came back with, deflecting the water spurt with a burst of fire.
They continued to fight for at least ten minutes more, every time one of them would get a jab in with their sword the other would call their element to dance along their skin and heal the small wound.
Ofelia was growing more and more furious with every passing moment as she realised she was not about to succeed, Anton just looked quietly determined.
With a final scream of frustration Ofelia threw a huge fountain of water at Anton and disapparated, the water crashed down on Anton who only managed to deflect two thirds of the water. His body instantaneously rejected the presence of raw Elemental water and heated his body temperature to over three hundred degrees in a second, almost as quickly it retuned to normal and Anton threw up the remnants of his breakfast on the field reminding him just how much he hated water.
Gasping and shivering he reigned his control in and stopped the judders racking his body, the pendant he was wearing had dimmed in colour which meant his magical reserves were slightly lower than they had been, taking a big gulp of air he disapparated and not a second to soon as the traitor returned with a contingent of Death Eaters.
Anton arrived on the top step of Sirius's house, he paused a moment to compose himself before knocking on the door and entering. Relieved everywhere was quiet Anton limped up the stairs ignoring the grass and mud stains he was covered in, he was still holding both his wand and sword. traipsing to his room he ran into Hermione, Ginny and Ron who all stared at his dishevelled state.
'What happened to you?' Ginny asked surprised.
'Exercise,' Anton rasped 'knew it was a bad idea.'
'Exercise did that,' Ron said unconvinced.
'It was strenuous,' Anton said passing the trio who all eyed his sword warily 'next time I'll go to the gym .'
He knew none of them believed him yet he still continued towards his room
'See you later,' he muttered.
He distinctly heard Hermione ask 'do you think he's been on Order business?'
And then Ron answered 'well I don't think he ended up looking like he'd gone a few rounds with Quirrel's troll by doing exercise.'
'I wonder what he was doing,' Ginny's voice said and Anton cut the sounds of voices off by closing his door.
Breathing heavily he leaned against the shut door and closed his eyes, she was here and she was actively hunting him out, she also had the knowledge of everything that had happened and was about to happen.
'Fate,' he whispered 'what am I supposed to do?'
Nothing happened, no beam of light enveloped him no answers came for his questions.
'Anton,' knock came at the door 'you're on watch tonight or had you forgotten?'
'Who am I swapping with?' Anton asked Mad-Eye through the wood.
'Kingsley,' he barked back 'be down in fifteen minutes I'll lend you my spare invisibility cloak.'
'Got it,' Anton replied rubbing his face tiredly with the back of his hand, looking down he realised with a jolt that his feet were bare, he'd left his trainers in the field.
When he heard Moody clunking away he pushed off from the door and dropped his sword on the floor, he pulled his dirty clothes off and placed them in his basket. Opening a drawer he pulled out his combat clothes and tugged them over his aching body ignoring the bruises that were starting to form following his fight.
Sighing in tiredness he glanced at the clock it was half three, by the time he got on duty it would be four, an eight hour shift would take him to midnight and at least quarter past before he got back. Almost slumping in fatigue he shook his head before pulling his door open and headed down.
-=-=-=-=-=---
He pulled the cloak closer around him as he strolled up and down the dark corridor his dragon hide boots moving silently. With the range his eyes worked at he could see the corridor in the ministry department as if it was lit up completely. Two hours had passed so far and he was more than a little bored, he looked at the locked door, what he would have done to have known what was behind the door when he was in his fifth year.
A feeling of foreboding creeped up his shoulder blades, Anton shook his head in an attempt to dispel the feeling, then he glanced back around the corridor before deciding what to do next. Standing next to the wall he leaned on it with his legs crossed at the ankles, and stood there watching…for six hours unblinking.
-=-=-=-=-
When Anton was eventually relieved of his duty he apperated to Sirius's and the collapsed into a couch in the living room within seconds he had fallen into a deep sleep.
He was woken up by the sunlight streaming in through the window, his eyes were still on maximum dilation to allow as much light in as possible, the fact that it was extremely bright outside meant in the couple of seconds it had taken him to adjust them they were left red, bloodshot and sore.
Anton pushed himself up from the chair and stumbled yawning into the kitchen and food, he didn't know why it was but he felt as if he'd had a thousand ants crawling in his brain all talking at once and the effect was surreal.
'Anton,' Mrs Weasley greeted, she turned to look at him and her eyes widened 'duty?'
'Yeh,' he nodded 'I'm just glad I don't have to do it for a while.'
'Well here's some breakfast,' she said pilling his plate high 'I was just about to call the kids it's not even eight yet.'
When she left the room Anton shook his head again, it was like his mind was trying to tell him something a ghost of something that used to be familiar, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.